Yuri Gagarin

Gagarin was the first human being in space, sailing into the unknown ocean in a very rickety spacecraft called Vostok 1 in 1961. And we're not kidding around about Vostok's relative primitiveness — the capsule malfunctioned upon re-entry, exposing Gagarin to insane g-forces, but he somehow managed to retain consciousness. Turns out the fun was just beginning! Gagarin was forced to jump out of his plummeting spaceship 7 km above the planet, and successfully parachuted down to a rural area of the Soviet Union. Famous for his boisterous smile and gregarious personality, Gagarin was asked by farmers who witnessed his landing if he had come from space, to which he replied, "Yep. Now, get Moscow on the line!"